Was annoyed so I went out quick and plugged the hatch and taillights in and closed the hatch latch. All the lights went out except the Airbag lights. Success. I will just have to figure out what part the taillights and hatch play in ABS/VSC operation..
Huzzah!
Maybe it's looking for the brake lamps in circuit, when the VSC activates it DOES engage the lamps.
In reply to nocones :
Love the progress, and that you're including the JR nocones in the build.
Here are some thoughts regarding the dead 12Volt battery:
Really excited to see this one progress.
Edit to add picture of quick 12V battery disconnect plug:
Do you have an excellent condition plastic holder for the top info screen in the middle of the car? My tabs broke and I fixed it but I'd like to see if I can replace with one that doesn't have screws coming through the top.
In reply to jfryjfry :
I'll let you know if that part becomes available. The dash and seats are the interior parts I'm hoping to reuse at least initially.
Not huge progress but pulled the doors.
The door switches all ground when the doors open so simply unplugging them makes them stop.
Upper dash removed in preparation for more cutting.
I will probably end up pulling the lower dash. Car still starts/runs no issues like that.
In reply to Indy - Guy :
If there is a door open, modules will stay awake even if there are no lights on.
Some Toyotas will even kill the battery if you park it with the key in the ignition, since that input keeps some modules from going to sleep.
Removed the lower dash.. well I think I removed the lower dash frame. I left the metal and all the wiring.
I had unplugged some stuff to get the plastic support off and plugged all of it back in to check the car. Except the radio. Because.. what would the radio have to do with anything. ..
See that white square where the HV battery should be . . Yeah apparently everything else works except HV battery monitoring UNLESS the radio is plugged in. I'm sure it's just some ground or voltage coming from the radio but man that's wierd. Plugged it in and all is back. Now the modules get unplugged and stored for a bit while I do some serious cutting around the dash.
Here you can get a decent idea of the amount of vast nothingness that exists above the Prius HVAC system. There are a lot of modules just positioned up there with brackets just like . . Yeah why not this spot is fine. But the HVAC is all really low and the dash bar is low also. I am not sure I will be able to reuse the Prius dash but there aren't to many switches that will need mounted. My preference really would be to use the Panhard dash design anyway.
Tomorrow hopefully some more sawzall time to get the rest of the roof off and maybe make the last of the initial cuts on the Prius so I can switch to gutting the Panhard.
Not sure how I missed this, but glad I found it. Watching this one, now let's cut that roof off and see how the Panhard fits!
I believe I have ruint it. This will never be a Prius again.
This is where I pause for the weekend. I am going to Singleslammer's this weekend for a traveling build day.
There is still probably 1 solid day of slicing on the Prius before it is where I need it to be able to even attempt the first interface but hopefully next week it is time.
It can only get better
More cutty
And I found rust. This big bracket protects the fill hose from road debris. It's just mild steel. It's in a pocket above the wheel well. It is "sealed" by a dust boot. Obviously this doesn't work well.
My 35 YO sawzall died. The d shapped bushing that guides the blade shade is now pack man shaped and the wobble rod that makes the reciprocating action happen falls out. The bushing is NLA. I have a sad. I will make a new one as it looks like the bushing is at least the same size as a commercially available one.
But in the meantime I'm giving Bauer cordless tools a try. I will repair the corded one at my leisure. So expect some opinions on the Bauer Brushless 20V soon.
I got out the hood and did some deeper cuts to the Prius to make sure it would fit.
First thing that is apparent is.. imma gonna need flares. That was assumed and they will be wide. I'm planning some bolt on RWB style ones because reasons. It may start with some generic plastic ones if they are wide enough.
First attempt, it's a little high and not back fae enough. What is it hitting? The corner of the strut housing and the outer part of the front sills.
The struts are boxes and there is substantial extra space. I just cut a triangle out of this for now and will reinforce it when I have to fix the side.
This was as close as I could get without removing the structure but I came along later and removed a bunch more but still plenty of space for strut top hats.
That got me to here
I think this is low enough. I still have about 1.5" before I need to move any electrical in the dash so I should be able to fit the cowl of the car.
I'll take some more pictures of the chassis after the hood is off.
Awesome!!
Re: Fender flares.
Pictures shown with meaty, softy, tires. Is the intention here to run something that wide and aggressive or stick to a truer Prius stock suspension and wheel? Factory wheel for this car would be 15x6 wheel and 185-65-15 tire.
In reply to John Welsh :
I've not decided. The wide sticky things won't stay but they are on hand. I only have 1 OEM Prius rim. I know they aren't hard to get or expensive so I might run more Prius sized wheels. Though they only are about .5" further in as the offset on the 17*7 is a bit larger then the OEM wheel.
Can't wait to see this taking shape.
Nice. One thing to keep in mind as you place the body panels (especially the panels that have wheel openings) is the effect of additional weight on the suspension. When I welded the body of the van to the G6 chassis the back of the body was still attached to the support "crane". Then I released the crane and the rear body settled another inch or two on the rear suspension. I ended up with a van that literally dragged the rear bumper on launches and corners. Since the body was already welded on, my only real solution was stronger springs from a G6 convertible.
Short version: hold off on final welding until you can get a representative final weight on the suspension of the car. Or be willing to cut the wheel openings in the body and adjust with your additional wheel flares.
- Sean
In reply to ShawneeCreek :
The rest of the body is ridiculously light. As in I have manhandled it around the garage with some effort.
In reply to nocones :
Progress looks good. If you want or need some stock wheels, I can help you out.
Those stock wheels are stupid light.
And the 16 inch touring wheels would look pretty neat under the flares in bronze.
How much of your Panhard is aluminum? I was surprised by the iron oxide showing on the front clam, at least some of the early Dynas had alloy panels everywhere, but they moved to steel for cost with time.
In reply to TurnerX19 :
Mine is a later all steel one. The only aluminum is the bumpers and some trim. If it was aluminum this plan would not be happening because that would be wrong. Since mine is steel it is both rusty and undesirable.
A perfect combination for Nocones Garage schenanigans
Dusterbd13-michael said:And the 16 inch touring wheels would look pretty neat under the flares in bronze.
I've got the 16" touring wheels Dusterbd13 is referencing here... that he included with the Prius I bought from him. I started stripping paint off one of them, and got sidetracked. If you decide they're "just the right thing", I'll drop them by the next time I'm out in the mid-west.
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